Caught in Lagos Gridlock: My Daily Struggle Navigating NNPC-Induced Fuel Scarcity

This morning, as I made it through the gate of my estate in the relatively quiet neighborhood of College Road in Ogba, I watched as bike men, cars, Keke, and those with kegs queued in what seemed to be an endless line in front of the fuel station opposite my estate gate.

The Mobil fuel station, recently purchased from Conoil, is located adjacent to an Access Bank, with a road leading to Fagba and the Ogba market in the opposite direction.

When it was an asset of Conoil, it hardly sold fuel, making the road free even on Monday mornings.

But the recurring fuel scarcity has, overnight, turned the spot into a traffic hub, with not just motorists scrambling to make an entrance to the fuel station, but also commuters hoping to quickly hop into a Keke and make it to their place of work, having to stand impatiently for long minutes and sometimes hours.

I stood with others in the increasingly mild heat of the morning sun, occasionally making dangerous attempts to dive into a moving Keke.

While my working hours have been relaxed from 8 am to 10 am in order to accommodate the current realities of immobility in Lagos, I wondered, as I tried another futile attempt into another Keke, if those who are struggling with me have a more liberal working condition as I do.

The time says 9:30 am. I could, since my office is in Allen in Ikeja, still make it before 10 am, but what about the desperate-looking middle-aged woman? Is she not late to work by over an hour? Does her company understand, or would she be slammed with a query for coming late to work?

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, is identified in pictures even by those who are yet to visit by the gridlock of yellow-painted buses. It’s the city’s iconic pitiable symbol.

But the recurring fuel scarcity, which has become rampant this year, has made matters worse, particularly for those living in or having to pass through fuel stations that have products.

Why the Fuel Scarcity?

Fuel scarcity is not new in Nigeria; however, a revelation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd has uncovered an uncomfortable cause of the recent scarcity.

The state-owned oil firm, after weeks of denials, said that it owed significant debts to international petrol suppliers, adding that the debt, which previous media reports estimated at $6.8 billion, was the reason for the scarcity.

In a statement on Sunday, September 1, signed by NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, the company disclosed that “financial strain has placed considerable pressure on the company and poses a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply.”

So, to put it simply, NNPC’s debt is the reason why the free movement of many Nigerians, just like me, has been frustrated.

This reality begs another question: Why, or rather how, could an oil company, founded 47 years ago, be in debt that has affected the trade of petrol?

Is it not just in mid-August that this firm announced, to much fanfare, that it made ₦3.3 trillion in profit in 2023?

Nigeria, abundantly endowed with oil reserves, surprisingly has an oil issue that has transcended governments, from the country’s era of military regimes to the recent administration.

However, in this supposedly unsolvable puzzle, is NNPC’s notable mismanagement which led the company to only turn a profit in 2022, four decades after it was founded.

Yet, the profit it claims it made is now questionable, as many struggle to make sense of how you made over ₦3 trillion profit in 2023 alone but have had a debt of nearly ₦11 trillion in 2024.

Even if the claimed profit is to be believed, it is difficult to reconcile with the reality on the ground.

The corporation’s claimed profit, while perhaps substantial on paper, pales in comparison to the financial performance of other state-owned oil companies, such as Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. Aramco, widely regarded as the world’s most profitable company, netted a profit of $121 billion in 2023, nine times Nigeria’s 2024 budget. Yet, despite having a business model that surpasses NNPC’s, it has not been plagued by the kind of operational inefficiencies and financial mismanagement that have come to characterize Nigeria’s oil firm. The disparity in performance between these two oil giants underscores the deep-seated issues within the NNPC and raises serious questions about the company’s governance and transparency.

It is even difficult to believe the claimed profit, with the knowledge that NNPC has a history of micromanaging the truth.

For instance, the recent fuel scarcity in the country was blamed on rain, thunderstorms, and lightning by NNPC’s Vice President (Downstream), Dapo Segun.

The firm also promised Nigerians that the Port Harcourt refinery would commence production of 12 million litres of petrol this August. It’s two days into September.

Caught in this web of mismanagement and misleading communications are millions of Nigerians who already have many economic challenges to contend with.

In fact, at the moment, Nigerians are not even asking for the price, which has soared to ₦1000 in some outlets, to crash, but the simple plea for the product to be made available.

As I work from home this week, thanks to a new directive from my office, I can’t help but think about the millions who lack the flexibility I enjoy. For those whose daily earnings depend on being out on the road, the NNPC-imposed fuel crisis presents a significant challenge. How are they managing to navigate through this turmoil?